I really enjoyed the Smoky Mountain Trains layout featured in the October 2006 CTT. On page 60 of the feature, in the top picture, I see electrical towers onn the layout. Are these mass produced accessories or custom made? I really like them and would love to know where I might find them! Any suggestions?
I just got my copy of the October issue. My comments:
On page 28, Allan Anderson is looking for a way to remove individual track sections without tearing up long stretches of track. While Ray Plummer’s advice to plan ahead is reasonable, there is a technique that could have helped Allan and others which I have described here before: Remove the track pins and solder the track together. Then all you have to do to remove a section is to suck out the solder, unscrew it or whatever, and lift it out. A bonus is that the electrical connections are virtually perfect; but that’s not why I started doing it.
Then Ray advises Fred Cain that he doesn’t have much choice but to buy more-expensive AC relays, rather than DC, to activate his red-green block signals from a track circuit. Actually, if Fred uses a DC supply for the relays, he can perfectly well use DC relays. There is no reason why the track power and the relay power both have to be AC. The two supplies can differ in voltage, waveform, frequency, or phase (more about this later) with no problem.
However, there is an even simpler solution, eliminating the relay entirely. You simply wire the red and green lamps in series, between the signal supply and common (the outside rails), with the green lamp on the common end. Then you put a lamp or two (whatever it takes) in parallel with the red lamp, so that it dims out to your satisfaction. These extra lamps can be hidden, or perhaps used to light up something else (even on the other side of the layout) when the train passes. Then connect the midpoint of the lamps (probably the frame of the signal) to the insulated control rail.
On page 48, I would add to Bob Keller’s article, “O gauge track brands”, a mention of Marx O34 track, which is a very handy intermediate O27-profile track between O27 and O42 curvatures. It hasn’t been made in many years, but is still easy to find. I bought 8 piec
Just a small note regarding the phasing of transformers. I use 2 transformers to power two sections of rails on the layout. When I don’t phase the transformers the train shoots forward when passing the section between the 2 transformers. Simply because the sine wave adds up when they’re not phased (or even themselves out, resulting in a stall of the engine) Normally one would use a single tranformer with a few adjustable power outlets like the ZW, but those are simply not available here. The märklin transformers don’t come with more then one adjustable power outlet, so I use 2 transformers.
When using lights or trackswitches with a shared common, phasing doesn’t matter. It’s only when a powered “thing” comes in a situation where both transformers at once feed their juice into the “thing”.
Now a completely different question. In the october 2006 ctt there was an article about a former trainengineer who dedicated his layout to reallife goods transportation with routings and cards. How does this work? I’ve read the article a few times, but I can’t get it clear. Seems like an interesting way of playing with trains.
As far as I understand it, he made a sort of envelope for every box, tank or flatcar he has, with ( I figure) it’s number on it and what sort of goods can be transported with them and if it’s belonging to some industry. Then he inserts before the session in each envelope a cargo to transport, where it’s destination is and what the cargo contains. Then he hands over the envelopes to the engineer and he has to figure out how to get those cars at their destinations.
Does anyone else use this? What are the rules and how do you interpret these on a model railway where destination and original start point are just a few feet apart from eachother? Do you make rules for the amount of tracktime needed before a delivery is made? Or rules for the train length, (fictive)weight or combined destinations? Though my layout is as small as a bean, I figure it encloses a lot of fun to add it, but to avoid running around with just one flatcar on the hook from one side to the other I would like to know what kind of rules there are apart from delivering the goods.